Friday's local baseball roundup: Steamers sweep pair from Pilots

Daily Press

Coastal Plain League:

The Peninsula Pilots' hopes of winning the CPL's second-half East Division championship incurred a serious blow as Edenton swept them 8-4 and 9-7 in a quasi-doubleheader Friday night in North Carolina.

The Steamers improved to 38-10 overall, 18-4 in the second half. The Pilots fell to 19-7, 33-20. Edenton is 8-3 head-to-head against the Pilots.

In the opener, Nick Miller hit a three-run double in a four-run 11th for the Steamers in a matchup of playoff-bound teams.

The game began in Hampton before being suspended by rain in the fifth inning Thursday and was completed in Edenton.

In the regularly scheduled second game, Edenton took command with a six-run third inning for a 9-3 lead. That inning featured a three-homer by East Carolina's Nick Thompson, a former Pilot.

The Pilots responded with four runs in the top of the fourth but got none in the final three innings.

International League:

Jonathan Schoop belted a two-run homer in the 15th inning as theNorfolk Tides weathered two Pawtucket comebacks/threats and beat the Red Sox5-2 in a marathon in Rhode Island.

The victory -- Norfolk's third in a row in a series -- enabled the Tides (58-55) to move within a game of the Red Sox (59-54) for the wild-card spot in the league's four-team playoffs. The Tides will return home for their next series, which starts Saturday night against Charlotte.

Baltimore prospect Kevin Gausman, who has struggled much of the year in the majors, pitched five shutout innings of two-hit ball for the Tides.

Yamaico Navarro gave the Tides a 1-0 lead with a home run in the ninth, but Pawtucket pulled even with Ronald Bermudez's RBI single in the bottom of that inning. The Tides escaped further damage, though Pawtucket had the potential winning run to second base with none out.

In the 13th, Schoop hit an RBI single for a 2-1 lead. The Pawsox again responded, tying the score on Alex Hassan's single to right.

There were runners on second and third with none out, but right fielder Jason Pridie caught Mitch Maier's fly and threw out Mark Hamilton at the plate for the second out, paving the Tides' way out of that jam.

New Hampshire won 5-2 at Richmond in a series opener before 6,747 at The Diamond, ending the Flying Squirrels’ four-game win streak. Brad Glenn and Kevin Nolan slugged back-to-back home runs during a decisive four-run sixth.

Former Peninsula Pilot Deck McGuire (6-9), who grew up in the Richmond area, got the win in his hometown by pitching four innings of three-hit, one-run relief for the Fisher Cats (54-56), Toronto's Double-A affiliate.

U.Va. product Jarrett Parker, from Fredericksburg, batted 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Squirrels (53-59).